09/20/2009 -- Race Report: Lobsterman 2009
(Top 3 athletes: (from left) Julie Tracy (Northeastern), Will Gerboth (Stevens), Gerald Rothenhoffer (MIT), Colin Kipping-Ruane (Boston), Katie Weller (Boston), and Amanda Nauman (Stevens))
The sun was shining, but it did little to break the chill that settled over the race site at the 2009 Lobsterman Triathlon on Saturday September 19. Athletes warmed up in and headed down to the frigid high 50-degree water for the start.
Amanda Nauman of Stevens Institute of Technology won the race for the women (2:32:10.9). She took the lead in the swim with the fastest female swim and followed it up with the fastest female bike. From there she never looked back, as she finished with the second-fastest run of the day. Katie Weller, 20, of Boston University finished second (2:51:50.9) followed by Julie Tracy, 23, of Northeastern University (2:52:06.1) just barely edged out by Weller. Nauman was the second finisher at Buckman and now became the leader of the point series leader.
A special mention for Kate Callahan, 21, of Syracuse University, who had two flats on the bike course and turned her anger into the speed. Her fastest female run (48:34), over 4 minutes to the second fastest time, however, was not enough to placing higher in the female field of the race, which has been increasingly becoming competitive.
The men’s race brought about a close competition. Colin Kipping-Ruane, 19, of Boston University won (2:17:54.0), despite having a lead-time in any of the stages of the race. His fourth place swim, second place bike and eighth place run were enough to propel him to victory. Kipping-Ruane became the new leader in the point competition.
Gerald Rothenhofer, 29, from MIT used his first-place bike to seize the second place (2:21:48.2). Will Gerboth, 23, of Stevens finished third (2:22:47.8) with help from his third place bike ride.
Keisuke Inoue, 36, of Syracuse University, despite his fastest run time (39:55), missed the third place by .5 seconds to Gerboth.
Brendan Heller, 19, from Bryant University’s blasted through the swim (18:53), but crashed on the bike portion on the race and lost the lead. Heller toughed it out and finished the race. This was Bryant University’s first time joining the NECTC.
In the end, athletes enjoyed a perfect end-of-summer day in Maine as the race was completed and they feasted on lobster, clams, and beer from Gritty McDuff’s Freeport microbrewery.
A special thanks goes out to Tri-ME for a great race and hosting the NECTC for the third time. Despite the travel, a growing number of the NECTC athletes are calling Lobsterman, the most favorite race, because of its beautiful scenery, great organization, and post-race feast.
All the top finishers received plaques and prizes, provided by GU and PureMadness while the point leaders of the season and seized the leader jerseys provided by Champion System.
Now the stage is set for the upcoming NECTC Championship in Montauk, N.Y. Athletes keep training and get pumped!
The race results are available here.
The overall of standings of the NECTC point series can be found here.
The video from the swim start is posted to YouTube.
The pictures are posted (and more will follow) to Flickr.
(by Bryan Young, Syracuse University)
-Keisuke Inoue
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